Notes and Editorial Reviews

Following a first recording devoted to Dvorak’s Dumky Trio and Trio no.3, Omri Epstein, Mathieu van Bellen and Ori Epstein are joined by one of their former teachers at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, the violist Miguel da Silva, a founing member of the famous Quatuor Ysaye. Together they pursue this series of the Czech composer’s complete chamber music with piano: there is an obvious close rapport between the musicians, who share with us their passion for this repertory and their pleasure in playing together. The Piano Quartet no.1 in D major op.23 of 1875 was one of the first works in which the young Dvorak, inspired by Schubert, laid the foundations of the compositional style which he would conserve for the rest of his life. FourteenRead more years later, he composed the Piano Quartet no.2 in E flat major op.87, completed under pressure from his publisher. This work, influenced by Brahms, is one of the masterpieces of his maturity. Two further recordings will complete this quadriptych of the Czech composer’s keyboard trios, quartets and quintets.

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REVIEW:

The string-writing is fully idiomatic and the players balance textures beautifully. They’re alive, too, to the scherzando qualities of the finale, a skitteringly bouncy affair. A fine recording sets the seal on another enticing disc from the Busch.